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Daily industrial news and top headlines for plant and maintenance managers

It’s probably not a stretch to suggest that most students back in high school shop class didn’t expend a great deal of mental energy wondering how those lathes, drill presses, and grinders made it into the classroom for their enjoyment and educational experience. We’ll assume, however, that most were too busy learning how to manipulate metal, wood, and other materials in a safe and effective manner to care about how the tools got there.

Wireless devices can provide a number of benefits for manufacturing plant personnel. But what considerations should processors make prior to installing a wireless sensor system?
Paul Richards, CEO, Wireless Sensors
“Wireless devices provide many advantages for plant personnel, such as elimination of wiring, rapid installation, suitability for temporary or mobile applications, and robust operation.

Peter Welfare, president and head inkmaker of The Printing Ink Company, proves that making high-quality ink is anything but boring. Like most processes that we take for granted, it starts with an incredible artistry that expands into a massive scale. While the music helps a little bit, it's easy to find yourself a little mesmerized simply by the rich visuals.

Microsoft recently released the Kinect for its Xbox 360 gaming console, which is a camera-based device that can see and understand human movement without the use of controllers. While the device was meant to help regular people play games, researchers from MIT's Media Lab have hacked it to demonstrate hands-free web browsing, Minority Report -style.

The production company Vivid Photo Visual set up a variety of time-lapse cameras to take in the 13-day operation of repainting a Boeing 747 for recommission with Virgin Atlantic. The end result is a sort of peaceful ballet, with a great-looking plane to boot.
Virgin Atlantic plane livery time-lapse movie from johnson banks on Vimeo .

The rail gun has long been a pipe dream for the military, but those hopes are slowly becoming a reality. According to Popular Science , this latest test has launched a projectile with 33 megajoules of energy, which equates to speeds at Mach 7 and a range of 100 miles—all without explosives.

LOS ANGELES (AP) — Low gas prices, weak batteries and a lack of cooperation between carmakers and utilities caused past efforts to introduce electric vehicles to fizzle.
But this time, advocates say, an alliance of automakers, utilities and regulators are squarely behind an ambitious project to make California a national leader in accommodating electric vehicles for the mainstream car market.

WASHINGTON (AP) — Hiring is anemic but corporate profits are up, and President Barack Obama is having 20 CEOs over to talk about how to tap that cash to boost jobs.
But don't count on the president to reprise the "fat cat" scolding he gave bankers a year ago. No, this is not a woodshed moment.

NEW YORK (AP) — General Electric Chief Executive Officer Jeff Immelt said Tuesday he expects the company to deliver "substantially" higher profits in 2011, driven by growth in its industrial division and in China.
Revenue in GE's industrial division, which makes everything from windmill turbines to ventilation fans, is expected to grow after being flat in 2010, Immelt said.

BEIJING (AP) — Authorities have rescued a group of mentally ill workers enslaved in a factory after being sold by a man who purportedly ran a beggars' shelter, state media reported Wednesday.
Police on Tuesday nabbed Li Xinglin, the boss of the building materials factory in the far-western Xinjiang region who had fled Sunday after Chinese media reports exposed the plant's working conditions, the official Xinhua News Agency said.

FLINT, Mich. (AP) — The winter storm pushing through the Midwest forced General Motors Co. to temporarily halt production at its Flint Truck Assembly plant.
GM says it sent workers home at 10:30 a.m. Tuesday because of a parts shortage.
Hazardous roads in Ontario have closed the Blue Water Bridge between Port Huron, Mich.

BEIJING (AP) — China plans to raise tariffs on some rare earth exports starting next year in a move to limit shipments of the precious metals out of the country, state media said Wednesday.
The Ministry of Finance issued a statement saying some rare earth products will have export duties increased beginning Jan.

The Wireway Husky Corp. (Denver, NC) has developed a modular machine guarding system that is rugged, secure, and easy-to-install for protecting all types of machinery. The MATRIX GUARD sysem features welded wire mesh modular panels, which are reinforced with in-line folded flutes for rigidity, and high strength seam-welded tubular steel stiffening posts.

The updated BTU1100 Portable Combustion Analyzer from E-Instruments (Langhorne, PA) is an all-in-one unit to meet the needs for a variety of maintenance staff. The instrument now comes with replaceable sensors for easy diagnostics, which also cuts out downtime and costly repair charges. The BTU1100 can detect O2, CO, and CO2.

Fluke Corporation (Everett, WA) has introduced the ScopeMeter 190 Series II handheld portable oscilloscopes, which are four-channel scopes designed for harsh industrial environments. They have been safety rated for CAT III 1000 V / Cat IV 600 V environments, and are fully isolated from each other to perform differential floating measurements.

Digest these prevention strategies gleaned from 2010’s pharmaceutical and food processing recalls.
While no one industry is guiltier than another for recalling product, the food and pharmaceutical industries are not only the most notorious and memorable, but also the most wide-ranging and criticized.

When it comes to spending money, a prudent approach is a wise approach. But it’s when we allow fear and doubt about our financial future to creep into our minds that we prevent ourselves from seizing opportunities, leaving us unable to act in the best interests of ourselves, or our families, and/or our business enterprises.

BEIJING (AP) — A Chinese official said Tuesday that authorities were on their way to rescue a group of mentally ill workers who state media reports said were enslaved in a factory and given dog food to eat.
The official with the civil affairs bureau in Qu county in the southwestern province of Sichuan said authorities took a flight early Tuesday to the western region of Xinjiang.